Research? Yeah right
by Lololova
Summary: When Castle gets into the bullpen in 2x24 A Deadly Game with just one coffee and you can literally see the small pain in Beckett's eyes. ONE SHOT.


Detective Kate Beckett was standing in front of the murder board but she couldn't find it in herself to focus on the case. One of her colleagues had said something that just _wouldn't_ _leave her mind_. Esposito had confronted her when she'd waved off her partner's departure as something normal, when she said he would come back. And honestly, _that's what she believed!_ She hadn't gotten rid of her annoying shadow before so why would he all of a sudden leave?! But... he _wasn't_ the annoying shadow anymore, he was her partner _,_ so again, _why would he leave?_ Espo had said something that caught her mind and which had kept her up all night.

 _"Why do you think he's been following you around all this time? What, research? The guy's done enough research to write 50 books. Look, whatever the reason is, I'm pretty sure it doesn't include watching you be with another guy."_

That's what he'd said. And it had really opened up her eyes in a way she hadn't thought of before. _Yes,_ she'd thought the only reason he was "researching" her was to get into her pants. But that was before she got to know him, and he turned out to be a greater friend than she'd ever thought he would. Maybe he had matured during their time too, maybe his first intentions _had_ been to get into her pants, but as time passed he'd gotten to know her on a more emotional level. _God, why couldn't her mind focus on her case?!_

When Kate left the day before her plans had been to follow Demming home, have dinner together and perhaps stay the night like they'd taken turns doing a couple times now but... she hadn't felt like it anymore. So when they'd been riding the elevator down she'd, perhaps really out of nowhere, broken up with the man, saying he was great and all but that she wasn't sure them was what she wanted. To _her_ surprise he hadn't been surprised at all, and she could see in his eyes that he knew more than she did. Had she been fooling herself all year? Lanie, her best friend, had gone on and on about how she didn't understand what Kate was waiting for, why she hadn't "jumped in bed" with the writer yet. With those thoughts fresh in her mind along with the quick and, for her, painless breakup she hadn't really slept well. She'd been laying in her bed, tossing and turning, with the thoughts of _him_ on her mind. Would he really not come back? Would he leave her? _Just like that?_

A movement caught the corner of her eye and she felt her heart skip a beat as her lips perked up at their own will once she saw who was strolling into the precinct.

"Hey," she greeted with her smile big for her partner. Her smile immediately faded at the sight of only one coffee mug in his hands, he hadn't brought one for her. _Was this the end of them? Before they even got their beginning?_

"Hey," he said, but it wasn't at all as friendly or happy as it usually was. _Where was his smile?_ "Uh, I was just thinking," he started and she felt a small hope ignite in her chest. "May...?" he gestured to the empty space between her on the desk, where she'd been sitting for the past two hours while getting nowhere with the case.

"Yeah," she immediately offered him space as she felt her insides tingle with the hope of him finally saying what he felt. _Maybe if he took the first step she wouldn't feel as hesitant to follow._

"I've been thinking, maybe we're looking in the wrong place." She felt her eyebrows furrow at his sentence, her heart stop at the sudden change of direction. _How was this relevant?_ "Maybe the murder has nothing to do with the game." _Oh_.

Kate started shaking her head before she could think. He continued to speak but she could hear the sudden hesitance in his voice and she felt her eyes give her away as they watered. _He wasn't even going to try and stop her_. _He was just going to let her go away with Demming without even trying to get her to change her mind about Hamptons_. She raised her hand to her face in order to hide, she heard his voice die out as she closed her eyes to try and stop the tears from escaping.

"What's wrong?" his voice was shocked but gentle, and she could almost swear she heard real concern in it too. "You okay?"

She considered to nod and just excuse herself to the bathroom, but she had a feeling he wouldn't let it go and so she took a deep breath as she shook her head before meeting his worried eyes.

"Not really," she started and looked down at his hands once again, the lack of her coffee stinging her eyes enough to force the first drop of water to slide down her cheek. "Why are you shadowing me?"

It wasn't what she had planned on asking, but it was a question that had infiltrated her mind ever since Espo brought it up the evening before. Castle broke their eye contact and looked at the murder board in front of them.

"What do you mean? For research, of course," he said before sipping on his coffee and she licked her lips in frustration.

"Yeah, right," she snorted and stood up to go fetch some coffee for herself. The second she was inside the break room she felt his presence follow her but refused to give him any sort of attention as she started making herself the black beverage he hadn't brought her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned and she rolled her eyes. She'd been _tossing_ and _turning_ the _entire fucking night_ and he wasn't brave enough to tell her the truth. _Or maybe she was wrong_. _Maybe Espo was wrong_.

"Nothing," she sighed. Why couldn't her brother in arm have just let it alone? If he hadn't brought it up she would've _never_ felt the heartache she felt right now. She would've never imagined _the two of them_ together, would've never thought of the writer's body entangled with hers in bed. But now _she had_. And _she wanted it_.

She jerked her hand away from the cup when his hand all of a sudden landed on top of hers, her feet carrying her a few feet away in order to create space between them. The spark that had transferred from his touch hadn't gone unnoticed though, and she could see he had felt it too.

"Beckett, what's wrong?" he asked and she closed her eyes at her surname. He almost never used her first name, but right now she wished he was. Nothing had ever been sweeter than when he called her by her first name, it had always been so intimate and sweet and meaningful when he did.

"I broke up with Demming, ok? I broke up with him because it's not him I want. It's not him I want to spend the weekend with," she lost it, and she couldn't stop the words from leaving her mouth. "I don't want ordinary, I don't want what should be, I want..." she was staring at him, and his beautiful eyes were watching her with shock embedded in those blues. "Forget it, just... take the summer. Write that damn book and stay out of my way," she wasn't aware the tears were running down her cheeks until she licked her lip and the salty taste invaded her mouth.

She quickly wiped her face with her hands and turned away to walk back towards her murder board. Her feet didn't get to take more than three steps before she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist, gently but determinedly pulling her back. Her body was turned in the process and before she could fight him his lips were claiming hers in a bold move, her knees immediately going weak at the strength he was showering her with. His hand let go of her wrist in order to snake towards her hip, his other hand landing on the opposite, in order to pull her closer to him. Feeling quite paralyzed the only thing she could think about was how his lips felt so right against hers, how they sent sparks flying and her veins heating up with arousal. The only action she could take was kiss him back with an equal feverish passion as her mind sighed out with a big triumph of _finally_. Just as quick and sudden as he had started the kiss he also slowed down the rhythm of their lips and pulled away from her. She hadn't noticed her eyes closing but she was slowly opening them, afraid of what she was about to see. _What if he changed his mind now that they'd kissed?_ Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear a voice, strangely sounding like Lanie, saying how she doubted he would leave after _that_ kiss.

"Wh... uh..." she didn't know what to say, especially not considering his hands were still planted on her hips, burning through the material of her blouse.

"If you want to come with me to the Hamptons the offer still stands," he said with such hope in his blues it caught her breath.

She wasn't sure she trusted her voice just yet, so instead of verbally accepting his offer she simply nodded. He bounced on his heels with a grin blooming on his face and she felt her cheeks blush. _They just kissed?!_ She bit her lip, feeling it swell a little from the sudden assault from his. _Demming never kissed her like that_. Neither had her boyfriends before him. _And they're in the precinct_. The sudden realization had her straightening and looking around them, trying to see if anyone saw them. Seeing no one in particular around she took a deep breath before she met his blues again, almost immediately drowning.

"What did you-uh, say earlier? About the case?" she cleared her throat, tried to focus back on the case now that she knew they would have time later to talk about everything else.

His eyes cleared from the happy glance they'd taken and he looked around, probably just realizing where they were too, and shook his head slightly as he in a quick movement grabbed the coffee she'd started making. Reaching it out for her to take they started back towards the murder board as he repeated himself from earlier, saying how they might've been looking at the wrong place and she agreed, said she'd thought the same thing this morning when she woke from the little sleep she'd gotten. It didn't take long then before the two of them were right back on track, solving the case together with smiles that kept creeping onto their lips. Kate couldn't really stop thinking about the kiss and his blues told her he was thinking about it every now and then as well. She noticed him stealing glances he hadn't dared stealing before, and she felt giddy inside because of it, especially considering she was stealing glances too. They tried to act as normal as possible, but at the end of the day Kate wasn't sure they were fooling anyone. Lanie was giving her suspicious looks when she walked through the doors to the break room where they were having their goodbye party for Castle. Her comment to Lanie telling Castle to not get into a drinking contest with her didn't exactly help to keep it all a secret.

"Oh, I don't need to drink to take him," her mouth was running before she could even think about the meaning of the words until she saw Lanie's reaction.

"Ooh! What's gotten into you?" her best friend question and she rolled her eyes while sitting down beside her partner, who just eyed her with those blue admiration-filled eyes.

"So, what are you planning on doing in the Hamptons for the whole summer?" Ryan asked and Kate gave him a small thankful glance, knowing he'd automatically given her an out before the medical examiner managed to interrogate her change in behavior.

"Well, I should get some writing done but I have a feeling I'll find a lot funnier things to do," he said and the glance towards her didn't go unnoticed, at least not by her. "What about you guys, why don't you take a weekend in a few weeks and come visit me, I've got a pool."

She was relieved he asked that, because that meant none of her coworkers were looking at her as her cheeks heated at the thought of distracting him from writing. She knew she shouldn't, because he _really_ should be writing, but she would most likely distract him anyway.

"Can I bring Evelyn and the girls?" captain Montgomery countered with the deadliest and most serious tone he could muster and filled the room with chuckles.

"Of course, bring the whole clan," Castle assured and they chuckled even more before the laughter eventually died down.

Castle drank up his beer before he stood up, saying he should probably get going, he had planned to pack that night in order to be able to drive as soon as he woke up the next day. Kate almost immediately joined him, said she needed to get going as well. She got a suspicious glance from Espo but ignored it in hopes he wouldn't say anything.

"Don't forget to give us a call every now and then, okay?" Lanie said as she hugged the writer, whispering something in his ear before letting go and giving Kate a goodbye hug as well.

Kate couldn't stop the smile from spreading her lips when she witnessed her partner giving hugs to both detectives and the captain as well before they said goodbye and left the room. Kate quickly grabbed her bag and her jacket from her desk before she joined her partner by the elevator, her insides vibrating with excitement of what was to come. As soon as the doors to the elevator shut in front of them she felt his eyes land on her and she met them with a blush slowly blooming on her cheeks.

"So, what now?" Castle asked and she bit her lower lip.

"I don't know," she answered honestly.

He hummed, a smile forming on his lips as his fingers reached out to start fiddle with hers, sending waves of electricity into her skin. "How about we start with sharing a cab?"

With her smile growing bigger she carefully took a step closer to him, her fingers snagging his in order to play with them. "And how about we set the course to your loft?" she suggested and even though his eyes widened slightly she could see the happiness glimpse in them as he nodded.

Her smile grew a bit more, showing her teeth, and he leaned down to claim her lips with his in a quick kiss. He was gone before she could deepen the kiss and she cursed him in her mind for not letting her, though when the ding from the elevator sounded she was the one too create space between them. She wasn't sure where this was going yet, wasn't sure if she wanted people to know they had kissed, _because what if it didn't work out?_ Together they went out of the precinct, hailed a cab and Castle was the one to give his address to the driver. The second the cab had turned a corner from the precinct Kate couldn't stop her hand from traveling to his, letting her fingers tangle with his without giving him a glance, just kept her eyes out the window as they rode through the city. She was quite surprised to feel herself reluctant to let him go again, but once the cab stopped at their destination she did in order to get out of the cab. Feeling his hand immediately catching hers again had a smile pulling at her lips and she didn't hesitate to tangle their fingers again on their way up to his loft.

"So, no Alexis and no Martha?" she asked when they got to his door and they had to let go in order for him to unlock it.

"Nope," he said and grinned at her. "You've got me all to yourself." His tone was a teasing one and so she smirked with her eyebrow raising in that suggestive way she'd seen him stumble on before.

It made her laugh at the way he was suddenly struggling to open the door and she could vaguely hear him mutter something under his breath as they crossed the threshold.

"When are we leaving tomorrow?" she asked instead of pointing out his clumsiness.

He offered to take her jacket and she immediately handed it to him. "I was thinking around eight but that was before you accepted the offer, so what do you say about ten?" he suggested and she gave him a questioning look. "Then you get time to pack your bag once I'm finished tomorrow."

"Ah, yeah, that sounds good," she agreed and took off her shoes.

When she straightened up again she was suddenly very aware of their height difference. When she was standing flat on her feet he was tall enough for her having to look up at him, and though that normally irritated her she couldn't stop thinking about how it would feel to have his arms around her in this way. Would it completely consume her or would it make her feel safe? Without thinking about it she closed the small distance between them in order to stand on her toes and claim his lips with hers for the first time. She could feel his slight surprise in his body before he kissed her back with his hands planting themselves onto her hips. His hands were burning through her clothes and she let her own land behind his head, pulling him closer to her as she asked permission with her tongue sliding across his lower lip. The second his taste landed on her tongue she surprised herself by not being able to hold back a moan. Her fingers slipped into his hair, and _how had she not run her fingers through his hair before?!_ It was so soft and smooth and all she wanted was to tangle her fingers in it. First when their lungs were burning with the need of air did they part, panting the same air between them as their foreheads kept contact. His hands played with her sides, sliding up and down in an arousing way, his fingers teasing her skin through the blouse she was still wearing.

"Wow," he breathed out and she chuckled at that, could only agree.

"Yeah." She pecked his lips again, before she pulled away and grabbed his hands. "Come on," she said with a big grin as she pulled him with her towards his bedroom. "If we're gonna spend the weekend together I wanna know if we can share bed or not."

She turned around to smirk at him but it totally backfired when, instead, his lips crashed onto hers and his hands left hers in order to slide down to the back of her thighs. He lifted her up as if she weighed nothing and she let go of a small scream at the sudden shift, not expecting his strength at all. Did he work out? When he laid her onto her back on the bed he didn't hesitate to follow, his body pushing hers into the mattress, and she moaned when he started grinding his hips into hers. When air was needed again he left her lips in order to start kissing her neck and when he found that spot right beneath her ear she let go of a loud moan containing his name. That only spurred him on and it didn't take long before they were rolling around, tangling their naked bodies together in a feverish manner. It felt as though they had done this a million times before but at the same time it was new and exciting. Kate couldn't help but think this might be the last first time she ever experienced, was sure no one would ever be able to top the feelings she had exploding in her veins, her heart, her body. He had officially gotten under her skin and for the first time in the two years they'd known each other she wasn't annoyed by that. If anything she happily snuggled her body into his when they were slowly coming down from their high.

"Never figured you for the snuggler," he whispered and she chuckled, her arm hugging him tighter towards her.

"Just shut up and snuggle me," she demanded and this time he chuckled, his arms hugging her body.

"Until tomorrow, Kate," he kissed the top of her head and she sighed in contentment.

"Night, Rick."

 ** _THE END_**

* * *

 _ **A/N** : Well, it didn't exactly end the way I'd planned (ok, I hadn't really planned an ending but still, it didn't turn out the way I thought it would) but I still hope you enjoyed it anyway! Sorry for the lack of updates these past weeks but as I told you I've been busy with my internship, plus I've been sick... still am... However, my sick brain might've screwed up this one shot but I hope it wasn't a total bust. Hope you've all had a great couple weeks and will have an amazing Christmas/Hanukkah/month. We'll see if I get more writing done or not now that I'm back to school. Anyway, until next time, xxxx_


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